Emerald Coast GEM

There’s much more to Florida’s South Walton than fun in the sun.

The white sand beaches at South Walton glisten in the sun.
The white sand beaches at South Walton glisten in the sun.

— They call it the Emerald Coast for the blue-green water, but the color I remember best about the beaches of South Walton is white; wide expanses of sand so white it glistens in the sun. Few beaches in Florida or anywhere can match this 26-mile shoreline in Walton County, bordering the Gulf of Mexico in Florida’s northwest Panhandle. The sand is nearly pure quartz crystal, dazzling to the eye and soft underfoot.

This beach-lover’s paradise has been a semi-secret, known mostly to visitors from Atlanta, Birmingham, Ala., and Tallahassee, Fla., and other areas within driving distance. But that may change this spring when a major international airport opens in Panama City, half an hour away, adding to the present limited options. It will be the first international airport built in the U.S. since 1991.

Beaches are not the only thing that is special about South Walton. More than 40 percent of the region is preserved as state parks and forests, meaning highways are lined with tall trees instead of strip malls, and the recreational possibilities, from kayaking to fishing to nature trails, are endless.

A string of 15 small, low-rise, low-key villages border the sea running along Scenic Route 30A, where a bike lane stretches the entire 19 miles of the highway. Each town has its own charming cottage architecture, and locally owned boutiques and restaurants. Vacationers can settle into a cottage or condo and walk to the beach, shops, restaurants, tennis courts, outdoor concerts and other recreation. While there are plenty of luxury options, many rates are lowerthan better-known resort areas.

The oldest of the communities is Grayton Beach, which celebrates its 120th birthday in 2010. The shoreline of Grayton Beach State Park was named “best beach in America” in a recent annual ranking by “Dr. Beach,” Stephen Leatherman. The park also boasts massive dunes, winding trails, abundant wildlife and Western Lake, one of the loveliest of the 15 coastal dune lakes found along Route 30A.

The town is a laid-back place with oyster shell roads where historic cottages mix with modern beach houses in the shade of pines and oaks. For a long time, “town” meant one combination general store and Saturday night dance hall. That building still stands as the very popular Red Bar.

PLANNED VILLAGE

The original breezy, weathered cypress homes in Grayton Beach were among the inspirations for neighboring Seaside, the best-known village along the highway. This planned community, developed in the early 1980s, is in a style knownas New Urbanism, imitating compact towns of the past where neighbors visited on the front porch and could easily walk to town. Pastel cottages with pretty porches and white picket fences that remind one of New England are set on narrow lanes, all no more than a five-minute walk from the town center or the beach. A network of sand walkways cuts through the middles of blocks, allowing for a comfortable barefoot walk to the beach. At the end of each street stands a beach pavilion, nine in all, no two alike. Seaside was the setting of the idyllic town featured in the movie The Truman Show.

Similar developments followed, each with a spirit of its own. Rosemary Beach, boasting a wide village green, has a West Indies influence. WaterColor added a luxurious seaside inn and gourmet restaurant to the mix. The newest development, elegant Alys Beach, has a Bermuda look.

Driving from town to town is a treat because each has its own shops and galleries. Florida’s Panhandle definitely is Deep South, and there’s a lot of appealing Southern folk art to be seen, with folksy artists often on hand to tell you about their work. Big Mama’sHula Girl Gallery in Grayton Beach is a hoot, a funky and delightful mix of artwork by the owner, Debbie Weant-Lane, and whimsical glass mosaics by Phil Kiser, who was a recent Beaches of the South Walton Artist of the Year. Seaside’s Eileen West gallery is filled with charming Southern folk art known as “Outsider” for artists who have no professional training. The gallery is set along Ruskin Place, a cache of shops and galleries around a scenic green where an open house Art Walk takes place the first Friday of each month.

ART COOPERATIVE

The Artists at Gulf Place in Santa Rosa Beach is a cooperative artists’ colony and open air market where the wares include handcrafted jewelry, pottery and beach photography, as well as all kinds of local art. The gallery of Justin Gaffrey in Blue Water Beach shows the work of another former Artist of the Year whose oil paintings are done in a style called “impasto,” using thick applications of paint to produce a textured, three-dimensional effect. WaterColor has a satellite branch of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the New Orleans museum that has the country’s largestcollection of Southern art.

Those in search of more traditional shopping should take the 20-minute drive to Sandestin on U.S. 98 (the Emerald Coast Highway), where they will find familiar stores like Chico, J.Crew and Coldwater Creek. The Silver Sands Factory Stores complex, which calls itself the largest designer outlet center in the nation, features names like Calvin Klein, Kenneth Cole and Michael Kors.

Sandestin will also please vacationers who prefer a complete resort. The Sandestin Beach and Golf Resort offers seven miles of private beach plus bay front for boating, four championship golf courses, and Baytowne Wharf, a pedestrian village with more shops, some of the area’s best dining and lively nightlife. While some of the area’s few high-rise hotels are found here, the beautifully landscaped acres alsoinclude a number of cottage communities in keeping with the spirit of the region. The variety of lodgings mean rates for every budget. Convenient resort shuttle service means you can relax once you arrive, with no need for a car to get around.

Like all of little-heralded South Walton, the resort is a find.

Travel, Pages 50 on 02/21/2010

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